A report from the Georgia Department of Human Resources shows that every county in the state has seen a rise in the use of food stamps since the economic down turn began.

According to the report, the number of people using food stamps has gone up by more than 200 thousand from December of 2007 to September of this year.

Some of the largest increases came from the Atlanta area. Fulton County saw an increase of more than 25,000 food stamp cases while Dekalb County had a 16 thousand jump in cases.

Carroll County’s food stamp use rose from just over 5,000 cases to more than 8,000.

The county with the highest unemployment rate in the state, Jenkins County near Augusta, saw a jump from 796 cases to more than 1,000.

In an effort to remove the stigma associated with using food stamps the federal government recently renamed the program the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Tags: DeKalb County, Fulton County, poverty, nutrition, Jenkins County, Carroll County, food stamps, The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program